Tekton Research, a multi-specialty clinical research site organization, has hired three vice presidents to lead its neuroscience, cardiometabolic, and endocrinology research operations, and to advance its patient engagement strategy. All three began their careers working inside research sites.
- Patricia Brown, PhD, APRN, joins as Vice President, Clinical Operations, Neuroscience. Brown has worked on both the clinical and operational sides of psychiatric research. She is a psychiatric nurse practitioner and previously served as vice president of clinical operations at CNS Healthcare. At Tekton, she will oversee operations across the network’s neurology and psychiatry sites.
- Kelli Wilson, AAS, CCRC, joins as Vice President, Clinical Operations, Cardiometabolic and Endocrinology. Wilson began in hands-on site roles and, over the course of a decade, advanced into regional operations leadership at Velocity Clinical Research and Eximia Research. She will oversee trial execution, quality, and site teams across Tekton’s cardiometabolic and endocrinology portfolios, including studies that run at multiple Tekton sites.
- Stefanie Hunter joins as Vice President, Patient Strategy. Hunter has more than 10 years of experience in clinical trial recruitment. At Evolution Research Group, she rose to senior director of patient recruitment and engagement. She most recently led recruitment at Johnson County Clin-Trials, part of Sequoia Clinical Research, and has built patient engagement teams and marketing functions for independent sites and multi-site networks.
“Sponsors want specialty experience across every level of site operations, beyond the investigator,” said Taryn Collett, Chief Operating Officer at Tekton. “More of our clients are also selecting multiple Tekton sites for individual trials. Pat and Kelli will ensure our specialty sites operate at an industry-leading level, especially for multi-site studies that benefit from central leadership.”
Collett said that Hunter’s role is key as clients look to align earlier on recruitment and retention strategies. “Bringing recruitment in-house has created a lot of efficiencies, but specialty studies still depend on local engagement, where patients meet physicians,” said Collett. “That’s also critical for retention, which continues to be both an advantage and a priority for us.” Across completed studies, Tekton’s average participant retention rate is 95%.
The appointments come during a period of growth for Tekton in neuroscience and cardiometabolic research. The company recently opened its first Houston, Texas, research site, led by Lawrence D. Ginsberg, MD; added Andrew H. Martin, MD, as a psychiatry Principal Investigator in San Antonio, Texas; and expanded its collaboration with Summit Clinical Research Solutions to bring metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) trials to its New Carlisle, Ohio, site.
